There was one surprise at number nine: Caracas, Venezuela. But the South American city may have only snuck in on a technicality. The Economist reports:

Price volatility in the Venezuelan capital has certainly been strong—so strong, in fact, that official inflation

reached almost 20%, while aggregate price movements in the survey were over 25% year on year ... In

fact, using a parallel “unofficial” exchange rate for the bolívar of around 14:1 for the last year would make

Caracas the joint cheapest city in the ranking, alongside Mumbai and Karachi.

For aspiring expats on a budget, South Asian and Mideast destinations ranked among the cheapest places to live. However, you'd be sacrificing safety to keep costs low. The report notes that cities ranking near the bottom have "well documented security issues or domestic unrest."

The Economist ranked the cities included based on the cost of products and services, such as gas, food, rent and transportation. For example, the average price for a loaf of bread in Tokyo is $9.06 USD, compared to $1.76 in Karachi, Pakistan.